not deaf, near death

i managed to find the source of the nextel-like irritating beep/whistle thing that's been driving me nuts, day and night, for a couple of weeks. i thought it maybe was a dying smoke alarm, maybe somebody's phone, maybe a walkie-talkie, maybe a car alarm, maybe a heart monitor, maybe, maybe, maybe!

by coincidence, i happened to be in the garage while the gate was closing, and found... it's the gorram gate! at one point in the gate's closing route it grates the wheel against the track and makes a shuddering whistle. that explains the absence of a pattern in the noise, and the variation of the sound, and the fact that it happened at all times of day and night.

i applied copious amounts of WD-40 today, and haven't heard it since. i'd like to bill the apt. management, but i doubt there'd be any point.

later tonight, in the process of changing out an empty keg (so long tripel) i discovered, to my amazement, that my #2 CO2 tank was empty! shouldn't have been, it's brand-newish, hasn't even dispensed a whole keg. after a lot of worrying and plenty of soapy water spritzed all over, it turns out that the coupler between the regulators on my dual regulator had a leak. i tightened it until i had a headache -- which persists, more likely originating from oxygen deprivation than from exertion.

i transferred the date beer to a tertiary fermenter, for dry-hopping and some additional clearing-up (it's quite clear already, actually, but the hops will fog it up some i guess). it's already quite a tasty beer -- hop-o-rific but sweetly date-y (despite the conventional wisdom). not a lot of malt, but some roasty flavors that may be added by the chipotle more than the malts. the dregs had a mighty capsaicin burn, but not so much chili flavor in the beer itself.

next time... oh man!